Profile: Simon Priddis

Competition

Biography: Competition

Simon Priddis is a partner in Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer's antitrust, competition and trade (ACT) group, based in the London office. His main areas of practice are EU and UK competition law, particularly merger control, articles 81 and 82 of the EC Treaty and the equivalent UK legislation, and cartel investigations.

Until December 2006, Simon held various senior positions at the Office of Fair Trading, including head of the mergers branch, and, most recently, senior director, markets and projects, responsible for all of the OFT's work in service sectors of the economy.

Simon represents clients across a wide range of sectors and industries, including financial services (stock exchanges, insurance, retail banking), pharmaceutical and healthcare (research and development ventures, product development and distribution, wholesaling, and specialist products), and telecoms, media and technology.

Simon's most recent matters include acting for one of the pharmaceutical companies subject to the European Commission's pharmaceutical sector inquiry, ITV plc in respect of the Competition Commission's inquiry into BSkyB's acquisition of a 17.9 per cent stake in ITV, ICI plc in respect of its acquisition by Akzo Nobel NV, and a UK plc in respect of a non-UK cartel investigation.

Simon was also recently featured in the Chambers Client Report as one of the top young lawyers FTSE 100 and 250 companies rely on.

He is a frequent speaker at international conferences on EU and UK competition matters, and has authored a number of publications on competition issues.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is a leading international law firm with a network of 26 offices across Europe, the US, Asia and the Middle East providing a full range of legal services worldwide. Members of the firm's 250-strong ACT group are based in Amsterdam, Beijing, Berlin, Bratislava, Brussels, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Hong Kong, London, Madrid, Moscow, Paris, Rome, Shanghai, Tokyo, Vienna and Washington, DC.